Special to Gatorsports.com
LINCOLN, Neb. — In front of a sellout crowd of red, the No. 7 Florida Gators knocked off the reigning national champions, No. 2 Nebraska, 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23).
Before tonight’s match, Florida was 0-3 in four-set matches against Nebraska and 0-3 in Lincoln, but changed that with the win Friday.
“It was a great performance overall tonight — coming in with so many new players and positions — it was great to see us compete as hard as we did,” UF coach Mary Wise said. “It wasn’t who played the cleanest, it was who scored the most points and we did that. There were so many great performances from the match to build on.”
Freshman Thayer Hall was the player of the game for Florida, coming up with 20 kills on 60 swings (.233). She also notched six digs and one block.
The Gators finished with 49 kills as a team, hitting .182, and posted 59 digs in the win. UF was a powerhouse at the net, registering 10 blocks during the four sets.
Florida got off to a quick start, winning the first two sets — 25-20, 25-22. The set was tied 8-8, but the Gators went on a 7-3 run to take a 15-11 lead and didn’t look back from there. Hall recorded six kills in the first set and Marlie Monserez dished out seven assists to start the momentum.
UF only garnered nine kills as a team in the second set, but it was enough to win the set 25-22. The game was neck-and-neck throughout, with the Gators largest margin coming at 21-18 and 25-22.
Florida fell 25-23 in a tough battle during the third set, but Hall notched five kills in the frame and Holly Carlton recorded three blocks.
The Gators came back in the fourth, registering 15 kills in the frame, hitting .317 as a squad. Taelor Kellum recorded four kills and Hall notched six, including the match-winner. After trailing 1-0, Florida never fell behind again, clinching their first victory of the season.
Florida faces No. 3 Texas at 4:30 p.m. today. The Gators hold a 15-9 series advantage over the Longhorns.
What a relief! Getting a win in Lincoln is as tough as it gets. Fantastic start for a season that began with lots of question marks.
Great Win Lady Gators! GO GATORS! Beat Texas!
Tough start having to play #2 & #3. Go Gators!
Amazing win @ Nebraska, for the first time ever! Even with new faces, we rocked it! Congratulations Gators, superb work!
Gator Volleyball is like Chip Beck in golf. Always around to collect checks but never tough enough to win a championship. However , solid win.
Wise’s worst year in 27 seasons has been 25-7. She has single-handedly forced the rest of the conference to work harder on their programs to avoid continual embarrassment. A championship would be fantastic. But if Gator fans supported this amazing team and coach the way that Nebraska fans and others support their teams, a few close losses might have gone the other way.
So true TB. I have taken my grand kids to some of the games and they loved it. Fast paced so they don’t get bored and tickets are inexpensive. Makes for a great family night out.
Great win for the lady Gators! What a way to start the year with so many young players and winning on the road in a hostile environment. Just another testament to what a great coach Coach Wise is. Way to go ladies. Keep up the hard work.
This is great news, but it is only a beginning.
Florida, Penn State, Texas and Nebraska all have at least 8-10 new freshman/sophomore players this year. It’s early and it’s very rare to win a match while committing 30 errors. All of those teams have a long way to go and lots of cleaning up of their playing. Stanford with 5 returning starters from their previous championship and last years final four team are loaded again and now understand you can’t take any team for granted. The other three of those final four teams last year featured an amazing collection of senior talent that has departed. Stanford no doubt is the team to beat this year. Looking for a team that’s capable of pulling off an “upset special” in December.